The present invention relates to fuzes and, in particular, to fuzes having an inertial sensor for triggering a detonator upon impact regardless of the direction of the impact.
It is known to include safety devices in a fuze to prevent unintended detonation. These known devices include safety pins and various other mechanisms requiring an operator to perform a manual operation before arming the device. In such safety mechanisms, a high degree of reliability is important so that the weapon is not fired accidentally or through the failure of a single component.
A significant problem in designing fuzes is allowing for a large variation of target impacts. A problem with the prior art is that the known fuzes required considerable impulse on impact before detonation. A well-designed fuze can reliably detonate a main charge notwithstanding a large variation in the magnitude or direction of the impact. While many known fuzes have been designed to solve this problem, recent miniaturization of components has drastically reduced available space. Accordingly, new fuze designs are required to satisfy the desired sensitivity, safety and other factors important for reliably triggering an explosive.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simple fuze which can be miniaturized and has good sensitivity to an impact from any direction but yet has safety features for avoiding unintended detonation.